My abstract plant was exposed by my sister.

Once on the high-speed train, the air conditioning in the carriage was on full blast, and the cool air blew down from the air vents overhead, causing the curtains to sway gently.

Lin Muyang found his seat by the window, where he could see a wide view.

He placed the middle finger cat on the small table, and stuffed the orange cat carrier under the seat. The cat seemed to feel uncomfortable, and stretched out a paw to pull at the zipper of the cat carrier, making a "rattling" sound, like it was filing its nails.

The passenger opposite me was a middle-aged man in a suit, with slicked-back hair, looking at his phone, his thumb rapidly swiping across the screen.

He looked up at the cactus, then looked down again.

Two seconds later, he suddenly looked up, and the flesh on his neck trembled.

"This cactus...can give the middle finger?"

Lin Muyang glanced at him, his gaze sweeping from the man's suit lapel to the watch on his wrist: "You're mistaken."

Just then, the guy with the middle finger turned around and gave the man in the suit the middle finger.

The man in the suit twitched his face, his lips turned down, and he silently got up, picked up his briefcase, and moved to an empty seat in the back row.

As he left, he looked back one last time, his eyes saying, "What kind of world is this?"

Xiao Kui laughed so hard she lay face down on the table, her forehead hitting the edge, making her laugh and scream in pain.

The live stream chat was flooded with comments:

"The cactus chased the passengers away."

"Man in suit: I want to complain that there are unidentified creatures on this train."

Not long after, a young mother and a little boy sat down in the empty seat.

The little boy was about five or six years old, chubby, and wearing a T-shirt with Ultraman printed on it.

As soon as he sat down, he reached out to touch the cactus. His fingers were round and plump, and his nails were neatly trimmed.

"Don't touch it," Lin Muyang said before he could finish.

The little boy's finger touched the thorn. The middle finger plant jerked violently, the whole plant swayed, and the thorn bent down, pointing the middle finger at the little boy.

The little boy paused for a moment, his lips trembled, and his eyes gradually reddened.

He turned to his mother and said in a childish but strong voice, "Mommy, this cactus is impolite!"

The young mother glared at Lin Muyang, her eyebrows furrowing into a deep V: "How did you teach plants?"

Lin Muyang remained expressionless, without even blinking: "It taught itself."

The young mother took a deep breath and pulled the little boy to sit down. The little boy glared at the man who was giving the middle finger:

"You're wrong! The teacher said it's wrong to give the middle finger!" The middle finger guy didn't care and continued to give him the middle finger.

Bullet comments:

"The guy with facial paralysis has zero will to live."

"A cactus that taught itself, hahaha!"

"Little boy: Mom, it scolded me."

The big orange cat under the seat finally used its paw to pry open the zipper of the cat carrier a crack, sticking out a furry little paw.

It landed precisely on the flowerpot belonging to the middle finger guy, making a crisp "smack" sound.

The middle finger guy twitched, turned several fingers towards the big orange cat, and raised his middle finger, the barbs almost poking into the mesh of the cat carrier.

The high-speed train took two hours, and the scenery outside the window changed from tall buildings to fields, and then from fields to mountains.

Xiao Kui fell asleep leaning back in her chair, her mouth slightly open, her phone tilted to one side in her hand.

Lin Muyang didn't sleep. He kept looking out the window. The middle finger guy was firmly holding up the middle finger on the small table, and the big orange cat was purring in its carrier. Time passed quietly.

The train's announcement system began: Next stop, Nanxi. We're almost at Lin Muyang's hometown.

He reached out and patted Xiao Kui on the shoulder. Xiao Kui woke up with a start, a trace of drool still on the corner of her mouth, and looked at him blankly: "Are we here?"

"arrive."

He stood up, picked up the cactus, and lifted the cat carrier. The orange cat was woken up by the shaking and meowed in dissatisfaction.

The sun was particularly bright today, and the ground at the exit of the station was bleached white by the sunlight.

A middle-aged woman wearing a floral shirt and with curly hair is looking on expectantly, her left hand shielding her forehead from the light, and her right hand carrying a gray canvas bag.

When she saw Lin Muyang and Lin Xiaokui, she immediately smiled, her crow's feet crinkling at the corners of her eyes.

However, when she saw the middle finger guy in Lin Muyang's arms, her smile seemed to be paused.

"Mom!" Xiao Kui ran over, her backpack bouncing loudly on her back, and hugged Xu Huiru tightly, burying her face in the crook of her shoulder.

Xu Huiru patted Xiao Kui's back, her hand landing on Xiao Kui's shoulder blade with a muffled sound. Her eyes, however, remained fixed on Lin Muyang and the cactus in his arms.

"Mu Yang, what's that in your hand?"

"cactus."

"I know it's a cactus. Why are you holding it?"

"Because it is important."

Xu Huiru's lips twitched. She took a deep breath, as if trying to control her blood pressure.

"Let's talk about it when we get home."

Lin Zhenbang stood at the entrance of the courtyard, wearing a vest and shorts, slippers, and holding a bamboo fan.

Seeing Lin Xiao Kui get out of the car, he immediately smiled, but when he saw Lin Muyang holding the middle finger guy, his smile froze, and his palm-leaf fan stopped in mid-air.

"Is this the... cactus that gives the middle finger?"

"Dad, you know about this too?" Xiao Kui's eyes widened in surprise. You see, Lao Lin rarely watches videos.

"The whole neighborhood knows. Aunt Wang downstairs even asked me yesterday, 'Is your son researching weapons? That cactus shoots out thorns.'"

Lin Zhenbang pointed at the cactus with his palm-leaf fan, the tip almost poking the flowerpot: "Won't it shoot me with its thorns?"

Lin Muyang looked down at the middle finger guy. It was pointing the middle finger at his father, its finger straight and motionless.

"Not at the moment," Lin Muyang said.

Lin Zhenbang fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan, staring at the cactus for a few seconds, his fanning speed noticeably increasing. He suddenly asked, "May I touch it?"

"It's best not to."

"I'll just touch it once."

Lin Zhenbang extended his index finger, the tip calloused from years of work, and slowly approached the bottommost thorn.

The moment his fingertips touched it, the cactus snapped and hit the back of his hand with a crisp "smack".

"Ouch!" Lin Zhenbang pulled his hand back, a small red patch on the back of his hand, like he had been bitten by a mosquito.

The cactus gave him a "V" sign, its two fingers crooked and twisted.

Lin Zhenbang paused for a moment, then laughed, revealing a set of slightly crooked teeth: "This thing is quite unique." He looked down at the back of his hand, then at the cactus, and slowed down the fanning.

Upon entering the house, the living room was small, with an old-fashioned wooden sofa covered with a cool mat.

A plate of sliced ​​watermelon sat on the coffee table, its flesh red, its rind green, and its seeds shiny black. Xu Huiru had been busy preparing the meal, carrying dishes back and forth between the kitchen and living room seven or eight times, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Braised pork belly, sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and tomato and egg soup were all dishes that Lin Muyang loved to eat when he was a child.

Lin Muyang sat down and placed the cactus on the chair next to him, the flowerpot wedged perfectly in the middle of the chair. The cactus gave the braised pork on the table a middle finger, the finger almost poking the edge of the plate.

"It doesn't like to eat meat," Lin Muyang explained.

"Why shouldn't it like it?" Xu Huiru held her rice bowl, her chopsticks holding a piece of meat suspended in mid-air, her tone as if speaking to a real person: "I cooked it for two whole hours."

The cactus replaced its middle finger with a "V" sign.

Xu Huiru paused for a moment, and the meat on her chopsticks fell back into the plate. Then she smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes smoothing out: "This thing... is quite interesting."